Jon Stewart has engaged with criticism he received after supporting Joe Rogan.
Stewart initially expressed support for Rogan after several artists left Spotify in protest over Rogan’s podcast, which is hosted by the streaming platform.
“Don’t leave. Don’t abandon,” Stewart said last week on his podcast The Problem With Jon Stewart, urging his followers to “engage” instead – while acknowledging that it might not always “work out fruitfully”.
In a new episode of the podcast released on Thursday (10 February), Stewart discussed the reaction to his comments, jokingly calling it “very measured”.
“Amongst the “F*** you, I’m done with you, Stewart’ ... I thought there was some interesting stuff if you sifted through it, that was constructive,” he said.
Stewart mentioned people who argued that “economic pressure” (such as artists leaving a platform) is “just another pressure point that you can apply to misinformation”.
The host then welcomed Dr Joan Donovan, a misinformation scholar and the research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, on the programme.
Dr Donovan defined misinformation as “information that is shared where people don’t know its veracity or its accuracy”.
Asked about whether to engage with misinformation and how to avoid spreading it, she urged others to do background research and told Stewart: “Be an advocate for the truth. What brings us towards clarity is hearing from other people, but don’t get hoaxed.”
